Man Charged In Fatal Attack

Palm Beach County grand jury charged a Riviera Beach man with murder Wednesday in a Christmas Eve stabbing, but cleared two other men in other December deaths.

Emmitt Peoples faces first-degree murder and robbery charges in the stabbing death of Arthur Simmons, 71, of Riviera Beach, whose body was found lying by the Florida East Coast Railroad tracks in West Palm Beach early Christmas morning.

After a railroad security guard discovered the body, police spent nearly two days determining Simmons` identity and tracking the murder back to Riviera Beach.

Peoples, 30, of the 1500 block of West Eighth Street, was arrested Dec. 27 and charged with the murder. West Palm Beach Police Lt. John Conklin said the motive appeared to be robbery. Simmons died of a single stab wound in the chest.

The death of Lake Worth resident Terry Murphy, who died after being karate-chopped and kicked in the neck, was termed justifiable by the grand jurors. Murphy, 37, of the 2300 block of East Coast Street, died of ``a blunt trauma to the throat and asphyxiation,`` after arguing with a drinking buddy, police said.

The grand jury report cleared Leroy Hull, whose age and address were unavailable, in Murphy`s death. Police said the two men had spent most of the day drinking until they began arguing over a knife.

The grand jurors also cleared Michael Anthony Simmons, 26, of Belle Glade, in the stabbing death of Billy Bridges. Police had charged Simmons with murder after an argument erupted at a Belle Glade convenience store Dec. 23 and the 22-year-old Bridges was mortally injured by several stab wounds with a 12-inch butcher knife. The grand jury called the incident justifiable.